642 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



one was Irish through and through, and for purely patriotic reasons wanted 

 to stop the current which was leading to the centralisation of much of the 

 best Irish life around London, a state of affairs which the Union caused ; the 

 other kind was the carrion crow veiriety : the gentry who were waiting for 

 something to turn up — for themselves. They did not care about Ireland, were 

 not even Irish in many cases, and one could have no respect for them. 



The English have gone, some few of the crows have got their jobs under 

 the Free State, but Ireland is fast going to ruin. Comically enough, the 

 job-hunters are now having their lives threatened by the Republicans, 

 because they (the former) are servants of the Free State. Nearly all the 

 Repubhcans are young men ; in England most of them would still have been 

 mainly interested in collecting stamps and playing football ; but to these 

 young Irishmen the struggle is serious — and some of them, at least, hold 

 their lives in forfeit if they are caught. 



Some people have not paid their taxes for tliree years or more : the 

 Republicans say that those who pay taxes are enemies of the Republic. Irish 

 educational institutions tend to range themselves on one side or the other — 

 a great mistake. In some of the British Dominions, University Professors 

 and Civil Service educationahsts must sign a paper swearing to take no part 

 in politics other than registering their vote ; in Ireland in the past one 

 University at least allowed its house to be a hot-bed of rebellion. 



Many an Irishman now sighs for the good old days, when, if your house 

 was burned, the English taxpayer was waiting behind to pay for Irishmen's 

 amusements. Things are different now : the smug air with which certain 

 Irish newspapers write of trade, commerce, manufacturing, harbours, railways, 

 and so forth, while the countryside burns, the bridges and buildings fly 

 sky-high, is remarkable. "The millennium has come," say they; "the 

 English are gone — see what a great country is ours." 



There are now commissions on this, commissions on that — commissions 

 on growing turnips, commissions on making Irish cigars — great plans for 

 world commerce, while the Irishman works less than any other European work- 

 man, and demands higher wages. The American Ambassador said recently 

 that there were five Yankee trusts, any one of which would finance Ireland. 

 We doubt whether any American sausage and tinned botulism trust would 

 erect factories to be seized by the work-shy Irish Communists and Bolsheviks, 

 and, moreover, the Americans seem rather fond of their money. Of course 

 the past American contracts for sending Thompson's machine-guns to Ireland 

 were a different thing — that was good business. 



As for Irish Science, it was partly housed in the College of Science, a 

 costly and beautiful Dublin institution now occupied by the Irish Government. 

 There is barbed wire over the lower windows ; strong guards are near-by, 

 and an armoured car or two waits at the corner ; inside, the Government 

 work, sleep, and eat. Members of the Senate and Dail are " not at home 

 to-day, thank you," when the armed Republican youths come with a Thompson, 

 a few automatics, and a land mine just to add interest to the call. 



Now, if you do not pay your taxes, the Free State is going to call with 

 an armoured car and an empty lorry for your furniture. It will be sent to 

 Belfast or London, to be sold ; because in Dublin everyone is trying to sell 

 something now and the marts are rather full. 



Mr. de Valera, a Chancellor of the National University, is in hiding in 

 Dublin, has been interviewed for a special column in the Daily Mail, and thus 

 takes his place among Signer Marconi's " Wireless Messages from Mars," Mr. 

 Huxley's " Thyroid," and the other startling features of that journal. Mr. 

 de Valera, who once tried for a scholarship in Trinity College, Dublin, and 

 came bottom on the list, and in a fit of temper allowed himself instead to be 

 elected Chancellor of the National University, has told everyone not to pay 

 taxes to the " Imperial Exchequer," i.e. Free State. 



